Assessment of students in performance-based activities, which includes nontraditional methods of assessing student learning such as the use of student portfolios, completed work, and exhibitions of student's work products and performance. By increasing the variety in student learning assessments, teachers

Class Meetings

Meetings in which the teacher and students gather on a regular basis to arrive at joint decisions through a collaborative decision-making process. Class meetings help students learn to talk with one another productively and reach collective long-term and short-term goals.

Collaborative Teams

Collaborative teams utilize a group process that is clearly defined and support active participation and effective process. A cross disciplinary approach where staff (and families) work side by side with mutual respect and cooperation to complete a task or tasks. Collaborative teams work to develop a collective voice for the child.

Cooperative Learning Groups

A set of instructional methods and experiences in which students work in groups toward interdependent goals. By assuming different roles within a cooperative group students gain insight into the problems and needs of others, build strengths, encourage others, and learn to depend on each team member to complete a task.

Culminating events

Demonstrations and exhibitions at the end of a unit of study that can be used to evaluate individual and group learning and performance. Students can demonstrate proficiency in a variety of skill areas.

Curriculum Based Measures

Measurements that are built on a developmental sequence or task analysis that reflect the increasing complexity of a child's growth in skill areas. Curriculum-based measures are an evaluation technique which yield detailed data on students' acquisition of specific basic skills and knowledge.

Flexible Instructional Arrangements

Groupings which range in size from large to small groups or dyads. Groups may form and re-form based on varying criteria such as student's needs, interest, task, learning strategies, student choice, or random selection.

Instructional Best practices

Educational practices that are based on research supported theories, demonstrated outcomes that are effective and held in high regard by the children, families and professionals involved with the application.

Learner Focused Programs

Programs that provide children with choices in learning tasks and actively engage them in the inquiry and use of knowledge and skills. In Learner Focused programs, the students preference, learning styles and interest are observed and supported.

LRE

A concept inherent in IDEA that requires children with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled peers in regular educational settings to the maximum extent appropriate.

Multiple Intelligence Theory

Introduced by Howard Gardner in an attempt to explain observations and research findings that suggest a range of human intelligence extending beyond the prevailing construct of verbal and performance abilities. Gardner has identified 8 intelligence: Logical-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, naturalistic. This theory offers a way to discover and support the uniqueness of each child, acknowledging their gifts and individual instructional approach

Multi-age Classes

Classes which include children of varying ages and abilities. Children in these programs tend to group themselves according to individual interests and skills. In a multiage classroom individual differences are the norm rather than the exception. Typical multi-age groupings are (3 years to 5 years) K,1,2, and grades 3,4,5.

Neighborhood school

The school a child would attend if they did not have a disability.

One-to One instruction

Instruction that provides a student individual attention in groups. This may be the best choice for teaching skills that other students do not need to learn. One-on-one instruction can be provided in a private part of a classroom or at the student's table or desk.

Outcome based Education

Is often viewed as a reform strategy for school improvement and also as a curriculum process. Sometimes known as competency or performance-based education, it stands in contrast to traditional teaching methodologies in that it dictates specified "outcomes" that will determine the design of assessment methods and the curriculum. An outcome might be, student 'A' will label numbers 1 to 5 by the end of the semester.

Peer Coaching

Students are paired with a classmate who provides support and encouragement to enable the student to solve problems, make decisions, and adjust to the classroom and to new expectations.

Peer Tutoring

Students in a class assist each other in the learning process through actually teaching contents or directly assisting their classmates with a specific assignment.

Portfolio Assessment

A portfolio is a compilation of a series of work examples, assignments or projects collected to demonstrate a student's learning over time. Portfolio assessment involves analyzing the content of the portfolio to better understand the students, their education needs and appropriate teaching procedure and approach.

Technology

Many uses of technology can support the successful inclusion of students with a disability in the classroom. Adaptive technologies and equipment enable students with disabilities to participate more directly in classroom activity for example all students can benefit from accessing computer mediated instructions. Students can incorporate technology in developing their vocational technical skills for future employment and independent living.

Thematic Unit Instruction

Teachers develop lesson plans which integrate all subject areas around a central theme, relating instruction to real-world situations to make learning more productive and meaningful. For example the theme could be the color yellow for the week and the activities center round that.

Work samples

Work samples are job tasks used as a diagnostic tool.